S.Korea builders may win $2.7 bln Saudi deals -paper

SEOUL, June 11 - South Korean builders including Samsung Engineering and Daelim Industrial are expected to win about $2.7 billion in orders from a refinery project in Saudi Arabia, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

The project, a joint venture refinery at Jubail between Saudi Aramco and France's Total, is estimated to be worth nearly $10 billion in total.

Citing government and industry sources, the Korean newspaper said Samsung Engineering was expected to win a $700 million deal in the package. Samsung was also set to win another $800 million contract jointly with Japanese oil and gas engineering group Chiyoda Corp, the report said.

Daelim Industrial was likely to win a $750 million deal and another South Korean builder SK Engineering & Construction could win a $420 million deal, the newspaper said.

Final decisions on the contracts will be made after Aramco and Total hold board meetings next week.

Samsung Engineering told Reuters it had bid for two deals in the project, a $700 million deal on its own and another $900 million contract jointly with Chiyoda, but declined to comment on likely results.

A Daelim spokesman said the contract it was bidding for could be worth $800 million-$900 million, adding that no decision had been made. SK Engineering said it had bid for a $420 million deal for the power and gas facility.